Homily For The Fourth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year B, January 28 2024
“And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? New teaching! With authority, he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him” -Mark 1:27
Sunday Readings
You are welcome to the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Like disciples at the feet of their master, we have gathered to listen to Jesus our Master, and to pray that we may have the courage to speak with authority and live as true prophets of God. Today’s readings speak about the authority of God’s Words and the prophetic responsibility of communicating the Oracle of God through words and action.
In the first reading, God spoke through Moses, who was about to die, in answer to the disturbed Jews. God assured them of raising a Prophet like Moses for them who will speak in His name. Jesus is the Prophet foretold by Moses in today’s first reading (Acts 3:22). He has authority over Heaven and earth (Daniel 7:14, 27; Revelation 12:10).
A prophet speaks the mind of God. A prophetic utterance evokes the obedience of the people who hear the word and punishment for the false prophet who presumes to speak an oracle in God’s name that is not from God. But who is a prophet? Through Baptism, we are all commissioned to be prophets who speak for God. In the sense of formal commissioning, a prophet is one sent to declare God’s Word. They command obedience to God’s Word, condemning societal ills in view of transforming society for good and bringing strayed people back to God. A prophet does not just see what will happen tomorrow (fortune-telling) as some believe, but one who speaks today to avert the impending danger of tomorrow. Therefore a prophet is not limited to religious utterances but speaks against anything that God Himself condemns, be it political or economic. In line with this description of a prophet, we could say that Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed the freedom of slaves in America in 1863 was a prophet. Susan B. Anthony pioneered the suffrage movement that eventually led to the passage of the 19th Amendment (1920) and gave women the right to vote.; hers was the voice of a prophet. Pope Leo XIII delivered his encyclical entitled “On the Condition of the Working Man” and called upon Christians to attend to unjust labor laws and practices; he was the voice of a prophet. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu drew the world’s attention to the dangers and injustices of apartheid; he was the voice of a prophet. The voices of St.Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi were all prophetic voices. Every minister worthy of the name has to walk the line between prophetic vision and spiritual sustenance; between telling people the comforting things they want to hear and challenging them with the difficult things they need to hear–Timothy B. Tyson
Decades and centuries have passed from the Old Testament to the New, down to these modern prophetic voices like Pope Francis, Bishop Barron, Bishop Kukah, and the rest who have always decried evils in society. A modern prophet who gave his life condemning injustice was Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Despite the many prophetic condemnations of evil in the world, why have we not experienced that transformation and change that their utterances commanded? The world will change only when every one of us exercises our prophetic role not just in condemning, but in fighting a personal and collective war against all societal injustice. Change will begin when each person sees it as their responsibility to speak out about anything going wrong around them. Let the change begin with you, right from where you are. Confirm your authority by doing what is right. Only then will you have the moral guts to condemn what is evil.
Those who presume to speak in God’s name while speaking their mind or what they were asked to say from another self-serving source attract God’s anger. I always admire St. Paul for prefacing an idea as a personal opinion and not a revelation from God, thus distinguishing the Word of God from his personal opinion. ( cf. 1 Cor 7 vs 12). This is a sign of humility in a person who is conscious of his calling as a prophet. There are so many conflicting opinions today both in the religious and secular circles. Today one person condemns what another glorifies. Aren’t we the ones destroying the world, causing confusion, and leading people astray? Imagine in a family where the mother encourages her children to do what the father forbids them to do. The question then is, whose direction should the children follow? Let there be unity in what is essential, which is charity.
St. Paul exercised his God-given authority as the Apostle to the Gentiles to teach people that marriage is a holy state ordained by God and that it is a lifelong partnership according to the teaching of the Lord (see Mt. 5:32; 19:3-9). Further, Paul emphasized a life of virginity to the unmarried and those who chose not to marry. The advantage of celibacy, as Paul explained, was that celibates would have the freedom to serve God fully with fewer earthly cares and worries. Do we worry about material acquisitions and abandon our service to God for wealth? Have we allowed our mouths to be sealed and our hearts bought over by riches? This is time to reexamine ourselves and return to the service of God.
Today’s Gospel passage begins and ends with comments about Jesus’ authority as a teacher (1:21-22 and 1:27-28). Jesus spoke, as did Moses, telling people directly what God had to say. He also exorcized with Divine Authority. In his Gospel, Mark repeatedly returns to the theme that Jesus’ teaching with authority brought Him followers, and Jesus’ healing with Divine Power liberated people from illness and demonic possession. Jesus often told demons to shut up. Today, many self-styled deliverers from demon possession encourage the demons to speak, or even believe what the demons say. Jesus avoided such theatrics and merely delivered the afflicted person. We are called to deliver people by the authority of Christ We exercise the same authority through Jesus Who commands the demons. Let’s command the devil to shut up, instead of being commanded by the demons of this world to shut up when we should speak out to condemn evil.
The prophets of old and new bring the reality of the sacred into every sphere of the human experience. In today’s liturgical readings, we are called upon to allow the prophetic messages of Jesus, Moses, Paul, and Mark, to penetrate our hearts and claim them for God. Moreover, we are challenged to continue to listen to the true prophets among us and to exercise the ministry of prophecy for our contemporaries in our words, works, and manner of living.
Our Prophetic Power and Authority Comes Through Prayer
I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2024)
